12/7/03……….. The highs and lows of the appropriately named Silly Season are going in full swing. During the week leading up to the awards banquet there were some revelations that weren’t really surprising, but then again they were developments that kind of go against the grain.

It’s really no surprise to hear that Petty Enterprises opted to hire Jeff Green for a full time run in the No. 43 Dodge. Given these circumstances, Green will be able to defend his pole position in the 2004 Daytona 500 and will be behind the wheel of the No. 43 for the Bud Shootout.

The upcoming 2004 season will be Green’s third season in NASCAR’s elite division. Most of you will remember that Green won the Busch Series Championship in 2001 by one of the largest margins in modern Busch Series history. Since then he moved into Cup as the driver of the Richard Childress Racing’s (RCR) No. 30 AOL sponsored Chevy. He certainly didn’t set the world on fire with it and was sent packing this past season. You’ll also remember that at that same time Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) shucked Steve Park and the two ne’er-do-wells ended up switching rides with Park in the No. 30 and Green taking over Park’s ride the No. 1 Pennzoil Chevrolet for DEI. Neither one of them lasted long in that situation, with Green only hired for a few races which terminated September 1st.

Green ended up subbing for a couple of teams and then finished the season in Petty’s No. 43 Dodge. During Greens’ two years in Cup racing, he’s only scored 4 top five, and 10 top ten finishes, and two Bud pole starting positions.

The No. 1 DEI Chevrolet will have a completely new look this upcoming season sans Pennzoil and drivers Jeff Green and Steve Park. John Andretti, ousted from Petty Enterprises in 2003, will pilot the entry for the 2004 Daytona 500, but will not garner the ride for the entire season.

In its effort to advance the career of a young up-and-coming driver, Martin Truex Jr., last season’s part time driver in the DEI Busch Series Chance II Motorsports No. 8 Chevrolet, will pilot the No. 1 Chevy in five to seven 2004 Cup races. DEI plans to prepare him for a full time ride in the No. 1 in the 2005 season to compete for the Raybestos Rookie of the Year title.

Don’t look for the same sponsor on the No. 1 every time it makes an appearance, DEI is using an unusual marketing technique by splitting the sponsorship up between several advertisers with a new one on the car every time it makes an appearance. I haven’t been apprised of the color scheme for the entry, and don’t have any idea if the color scheme will change with each advertiser or not. This new advertising tactic will allow DEI solid backing for each of the No. 1’s outings and will also give new advertisers a chance to garner experience with advertising in NASCAR events.

Kasey Kahne managed to get out of his long time, highly publicized contract with Ford and will now drive Dodges in both the Cup and Busch Series. He’ll be taking over the Evernham Motorsports No. 9 Dodge Dealer’s Dodge previously driven by Bill Elliott. The news about Elliott’s impending retirement during the 2003 season was partially correct. It was announced that he’ll run a limited schedule for Evernham Motorsports in 2004 although the plans haven’t been finalized. It isn’t known yet what the car number or sponsor will be or which races Elliott will attempt.

Evernham Motorsports is taking a big chance on Kahne. He’s a top notch race driver, I’ve had the pleasure of sitting in the grandstands watching him race the USAC Silver Crown cars at Nazareth, and it’s apparent that he is an accomplished racer, and then some.

Some of you may remember the chance that Evernham took with Casey Atwood a couple of seasons ago. Atwood was another up and coming star, but he tended to fall flat on his face in the Cup car. Kasey Kahne had a rough first season in the Busch Series; it took him to the middle of the 2003 season to be able to handle the Busch Series stock car, and finally culminated his best Busch season with a win in the season’s finale at Homestead-Miami.

It’ll be a toss-up as to how Kahne will handle the more powerful Cup car, which is also a hundred pounds heavier that what he’s used to. Although, the added weight won’t make near as much difference as the added horsepower will. Busch Series drivers have a hard time learning to feather the accelerator on the Cup car when coming out of a corner. If they mash on it too hard, they’ll lose traction and spin into the wall, which we’ve all seen them do dozens of times. I’ve heard lots of drivers lament that with the Busch Series car they can keep the petal to the metal through most corners, but the tremendously powerful Cup car is a serious handful to learn. Kahne had that problem with the Busch Series car when he first started, as compared to the lighter open wheel cars that he was used to. I still think he’s a great driver, lets hope the learning curve from the Busch Series moves to the Cup Series with him!

The 2003 Cup Season is now considered to be officially over, with the championship awards ceremony this past Friday night closing its doors forever. The end of the hunt has arrived. The big hoopla at the New York City Waldorf Astoria’s main ball room, mainly centered on R. J. Reynolds. We’re all aware that the tobacco company participated in NASCAR racing with its Winston brand, formerly sponsoring the Cup Series for more than 31 years.

Through the cracks in NASCAR’s accolades to Winston, Matt Kenseth was crowned the 31st and final Winston Cup Champion and was awarded a check for more than $5.1 million dollars from Winston’s driver’s point’s fund that totaled over 17 million dollars for the 2003 season. Add that amount to the more than $4 million Kenseth made in race purses during the season, and you can rest assured that Matt Kenseth had a pretty good year. While we’re at it, we may as well add this season’s amount to his $9.6 million dollar career earnings which will total up to more than $18.7 million since he started out in the Cup Series in 1998. That’s not a bad piece of change for Kenseth, who has had only 148 starts in Cup racing! Matt has racked up seven victories, 31 top five finishes, 67 top ten finishes, and three Bud poles, two of which were won this season at New Hampshire and Dover. Lets face it folks, Matt Kenseth has proved that you don’t have to be a big winner to make money in NASCAR racing!

12/14/03……….. The whiners and sore losers are mounting a multitude of wails that are being heard from coast to coast, encompassing all of NASCAR-land. They’ve garnered the ear of some supposedly influential people in the organization and are making the best of it.

NASCAR, in its infinite wisdom (?), is running the idea of changing the championship points system by the fans, media, and anyone who will take notice. The sanctioning body, having been harangued by the whiners and sore losers, is making an effort to appease these people by announcing a possibility of the change before the 2004 season gets underway in February.

The only people who are taking up the gauntlet and proclaiming that the change is badly needed and it’s the right thing to do, are those who stand to benefit by it. The drivers and teams, who tend to play their success by ear with going all out for a win instead of gearing the team for consistency, are the ones who want the change. There a marked philosophy in racing just as there is in politics. Some tend to think that it doesn’t matter if they aren’t on the track when the checkered flag flies if they aren’t the first ones across the finish line. Others tend to think that if a win isn’t in the books for them, then the best finish possible is paramount. The later being geared for consistency and the long run for the championship as the current points system stands now.

One of FOX TV’s honchos came out in favor of the change, but we can all surmise that the reasoning for his agreement was higher TV ratings and more advertising money coming in to the network for the proposed 10 race “playoff” ending to the season.

One interesting factor in the NASCAR media blitz for the points change is their own poll on the NASCAR.com website. The pole simply asks, “Are you in favor of a playoff system in NASCAR?” I’m sure some of the proponents of the change aren’t at all pleased with the fans take on the situation. The poll lists three choices, “Yes, No, and Undecided.” Sunday morning, 12/14, with 147.1 thousand voters in the poll, 25.3 thousand or 17% voted “Yes,” 111.4 thousand or 76% voted “No,” and 10.3 thousand or 7% voted “Undecided.”

Some of the proponents of the change who wrote in to the NASCAR.com’s message board stated that the “old-timers” weren’t prone to change and were the ones who were fighting against revising the points system. That appears to be nothing more than rhetoric from people who will do or say anything to have their own way. You can rest assured that the 76% of the fans who have voted against the change are not all “old-timers.” Even if they were, it’s the “old-timers” who have stuck by the sport by spending their money on it and helping to make it successful.

Is the change a good idea? I can’t really say at this point. Sure, I guess you could call me an “old-timer” but I’m not one who balks at change, especially if the change is badly needed, like for instance getting rid of restrictor plate racing. The proposed change has the teams racing as per usual for the first 26 races and then locking in the top ten drivers at that point and setting their points back to zero. They would then race the final ten races of the season for the championship. There is a lot to be worked out with this new idea, especially for the drivers who are in the 11th or 12th position just a few points away from the top ten. It’s been suggested that those drivers may also be allowed to enter the finale, depending on how far out of the top ten they are after the 26th event.

There are a lot of bugs in the proposed system. One of my main concerns is the “last ten races” that they are using to base the championship on. These races consist of New Hampshire, Dover, Talladega, Kansas, Charlotte, Martinsville, Atlanta, Phoenix, Darlington, and Homestead. If the ten races are to decide a championship, then there should be parity in the venues. There are no road course races, and only one short track race. The list contains three 1 mile tracks, one 2.5 mile track, three 1.5 mile tracks, a 1.54 mile track, a 1.366 mile track, and a .526 mile short track.

If they are going to make this drastic change they should have parity in all of the racing venues. They should have a 2 mile track in the picture at either Michigan or California, and they should also include a road course track in the championship playoff picture. The diversity in these tracks is what makes the elite Cup Series so special. The fact that the drivers can race those high powered stock cars on road courses and short tracks as well as the superspeedways is what makes them championship racecar driver material. Without those tracks in the playoffs, there isn’t much sense of calling them champions. The 1.5 mile easy tracks can be maneuvered by rookies just as well as by veterans; the rookies have shown us that many times in recent years. To have a true championship, the tracks that they race on in the playoffs should be a representation of the whole series.

If they are going to incorporate this change they should set it up for the 2005 season and build the 2005 racing schedule around it making the championship playoff mean something other than a romp around a bunch of easy tracks.

Okay, I’m done complaining about that, now lets move on to some of the positive aspects of a point’s system change. One good thing that I’ve read is that they’re considering changing the points awarded after the 34th finishing position. Under the new proposal, finishing positions 35 thru 43 would receive the same amount of points. This move will help to keep those semi-repaired wrecked cars off of the tracks that are just riding around to get points.

These aerodynamically challenged wrecked cars that are plastered with duct tape and rivets have a tough time keeping up to the minimum speed required for them to stay out on the track, and they usually get in the way of the competitors who are racing for high paying positions. NASCAR is also considering raising the minimum speed at each track to help alleviate the “ride around in a wreck” problem.

Lastly, but certainly not least, one of the concessions to appease the whiners and sore losers is to award more points for winning a race. A big complaint was filed concerning the fact that Matt Kenseth won the championship in 2003 and only won one race while Ryan Newman won eight races and ended up sixth in the final point’s standings. I wonder who complained about that, could it have been one of the owners of the Penske team by the name of Rusty Wallace? Nah, Rusty wouldn’t complain, and neither would Jeff Gordon, part owner of Jimmie Johnson’s team, which would have won the championship under the newly proposed points system.

Fine, it they change the system, I want to see Matt Kenseth win it again next season. That would be a huge feather in his cap, to win the final Winston Cup and then the first Nextel Cup! He can do it….

12/21/03……….. As this Christmas holiday season rolls around, we need to embrace the spirit of giving, as the Magi delivered gifts to celebrate the birth of Jesus. I’m not getting religious on you folks, but that really is the true basis behind the whole she-bang that’s been commercialized in recent years beyond belief.

With this in mind, I have to extol my favorite NASCAR charity, the Victory Junction Gang Camp. As most of you are aware of by now, the camp for seriously ill children is the brainstorm of Patti and Kyle Petty in memory of their fallen son Adam, who met his demise in a Busch Series practice session at New Hampshire track.

The camp is under construction and needs a lot more funding in order to reach its goals of opening up this coming year. Sending any amount from one dollar to one million dollars will be greatly appreciated by the camps founders and the sick children that will benefit from the time they will get to spend there.

Donations can be made by mail, phone, fax, and on the Victory Junction Gang Camp website.